They’re everywhere. You’ve seen them. Maybe you’ve even worked for them:

Bad bosses.

From the micromanager to the tyrant to the checked-out guy who’s never available, bad managers make the work life miserable for everyone around them.

Too many people are promoted up the corporate ladder without the skills they need to lead.

Management isn’t for everyone, and it shouldn’t be. If you’re in line for a promotion or dream of a taking a leadership position someday, do yourself and your potential future team a favor: Take time to assess whether you’re truly ready to be a manager — and a good one at that.

Here are the six things I wish I’d known when I stepped into my first management job years ago.

You’ve heard the saying: People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. In other words, it’s unwise to criticize others when you, too, are flawed. Many consider this sound advice, but the adage creates a conundrum for people in positions of leadership.

On one hand, holding others accountable is one of the core duties of leadership. It often involves delivering difficult feedback or making difficult decisions such as letting people go. On the other hand, holding people accountable makes everyone want to examine you and your work more critically. The higher you climb the ladder, the more this is true.

To survive life in the glass house—and in fact to be a better manager than you are now—you must develop a few skills that weren’t as critical early in your career. I’m going to tell you what they are and how to get them.

Earlier this week, we offered tips for setting up a workspace at home, and establishing routines as a remote worker. This article focuses on off-site team members from another perspective: Managing remote employees.

Managing people who work at home, in other office locations, or even in other countries is a reality many leaders face these days. It comes with some challenges, certainly—but when location isn’t a factor, you also have the opportunity to tap into the greatest mix of available skills to pull off your project objectives.

To help you be an effective manager with a far-flung team, here are five tips critical to your success.

Named after Laurence J. Peter, coauthor of a popular 1969 management book, the idea suggests that people rise to their level of incompetence.

In other words, successful people are often promoted. But the promotion is based on success in their current role—not necessarily their ability to be successful in the new role. Thus, they often fail in their new position.

Becoming an effective leader is a challenging undertaking. Trying to map a success route from the myriad overlapping or contradictory leadership theories is like being on a journey where your GPS changes its mind every few miles.

But what if I told you that you can improve your leadership skills by practicing the skills used in improv theater?

There’s some irony in the life of an organization. One the one hand, success leads to necessary growth in the organizational hierarchy and the overall amount of bureaucracy. On the other hand, that fact often erodes managers’ ability to feel empowered to make decisions.

Reclaiming your decision-making ability when needed is in many ways about fighting bureaucracy. The first tip this week addresses this challenge. Let’s be clear, no wildly successful person achieves success without locking horns with a few bureaucrats over policies. Not all tape is red, nor do all bureaucrats create roadblocks–but successful leaders see the difference and effectively manage tricky bureaucratic situations.